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If fugitive Philippe Coutinho wants to go ­Barcelona, ­Liverpool should drive him to the airport, bank ­£100million and have done with it.

Then they should make Southampton an offer they can’t ­refuse for long-time defensive target Van Dijk — and also recruit a world-class goalkeeper who actually commands his box.

Since Klopp’s arrival at ­Anfield in October 2015, no Premier League club has conceded more than the 27 goals Liverpool have leaked from set-pieces. If they want to be serious title contenders, this cannot go on.

Watford’s first goal was an embarrassment: Corner, ­unmarked header four yards out, bang.

The second was a tribute to pinball in the box — pure Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning.

And even if Miguel Britos was marginally offside when he ­bundled in the Hornets’ 93rd-minute equaliser, Liverpool ­defended the corner from Jose Holebas atrociously.

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Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and debutant Mohamed Salah’s goals should have been enough to take away all the swag, yet Keystone Klopp still does not think a dominant centre-half is the solution.

He claimed afterwards: “In all the spaces we have all the right people, but it can still happen that someone loses ­connection for one second and is free in the air.

“One player cannot sort out the set-piece problem for ­Liverpool. It’s about positioning – do the right thing in the right moment on the right position.

“We have to defend better and, yes, we did wrong, but what do I want to do to sort it – buy a new player in that ­position? I’m not sure if that ­really makes sense. We have to work on it, and in pre-season we did well in this situation.”

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Mane refused to use ­Coutinho’s tactical sulk as an alibi for Liverpool’s criminal waste of two points, admitting: “We are all professionals, this can happen in football and with due respect to Watford, we should have won.

“No excuses – everybody is fit. We should have defended better in this kind of game but we’ll ­accept it, forget it and try to be ready for the next game.”

Britos revealed Watford had made special provision for the visitors’ all-too-familiar flaw, saying: “Yes, we knew about ­Liverpool.

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"Last season they ­conceded some goals from set-pieces and maybe it is their weak point. I’m not surprised because it is not easy to work well, ­particularly when you mark a zone – and they mark a zone.

“It was very nice, especially at home, to score in the last ­minute and get a point against a very good team.”

* Pick up the Mirror on Monday for your bumper football pullout featuring all of the action and all of the goals!

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